William Dobbie
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant-General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...

 (12 July 1879 – 3 October 1964) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 veteran of the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

, and First
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and Second
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 World Wars.

Early life

William was born in Madras to a civil servant father, W. H. Dobbie of the Indian Civil Service - and to a family with a long military lineage. When he was only nine months old, his parents left him in the care of relatives in England, so that he might receive an education in keeping with his family's station.
At thirteen, young William won a scholarship to Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

 and became a top-ranking classical scholar and a keen student of ancient military campaigns. Upon graduation, he proved to be qualified for a military career at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from which, in due course, he went to the Royal School of Military Engineering
Royal School of Military Engineering
The Royal School of Military Engineering is the main training establishment for the British Army's Royal Engineers. After they have successfully completed their Phase 1 - Basic Soldier Training, members of the Corps of Royal Engineers attend 3 RSME, at Minley for Phase 2a - Combat Engineering...

 at Chatham.

Second Boer War

Sir William Dobbie was plunged into the Second Boer War shortly after the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in 1901. Interestingly, he later took the view that it was a rather unjust war.

World War I

During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Dobbie happened to have been the staff officer on duty in November 1918 and his is the only signature on the cease-fire telegram that was sent to all troops. In later years, when asked what he did in The Great War, Dobbie would reply "I stopped the bloody thing!".

World War II

Dobbie, then holding the rank of major-general, was informed that after Malaya he would be retired, because new War Office regulations deemed him too old for a further position. After war was declared in September, he was frustrated in his attempts to return to active service, until in April 1940 he encountered the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside
Field Marshal William Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside GCB, CMG, CBE, DSO, was a British Army officer who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the first year of the Second World War....

, who offered him the position of Governor-General
Governor-General of Malta
-Governors of Malta, 1813-1964:*Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Maitland *General Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings *Major-General Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby *Lieut.-General Sir Patrick Stuart *Right Honourable Richard More O'Ferrall -Governors of Malta, 1813-1964:*Lieut.-General...

 and Commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 of Malta. He remained Governor of Malta until May 1942.

While in Malta, he was criticised for his approach to leadership during the 3 year siege and for what critics argue to have been an unacceptable delay in the creation of bomb shelter
Bomb shelter
A bomb shelter is any kind of a civil defense structure designed to provide protection against the effects of a bomb.-Types of shelter:Different kinds of bomb shelters are configured to protect against different kinds of attack and strengths of hostile explosives. For example, an Air-raid shelter...

s; as well as in implementing efficient food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

-rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...

 and creating an effective civil-defence
Defense (military)
Defense has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defense implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armor, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy...

 system. Issues surrounding the unloading of ordnance were also a criticism.

He was also the former Commandant of the Royal School of Military Engineering
Royal School of Military Engineering
The Royal School of Military Engineering is the main training establishment for the British Army's Royal Engineers. After they have successfully completed their Phase 1 - Basic Soldier Training, members of the Corps of Royal Engineers attend 3 RSME, at Minley for Phase 2a - Combat Engineering...

. Dobbie was a member of the Protestant Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...

, and when living in The Paragon, Blackheath attended the large Brethren assembly in Nightingale Vale, Woolwich Common
Woolwich Common
Woolwich Common is an area of military land located to the south of the town centre of Woolwich in South East London England.It is bounded on the south side by the A207 Shooter's Hill Road, and on the east by Academy Road that the former Royal Military Academy fronts. Situated to the west is the...

, London SE18. On 31 July 1944 a German V1 Flying Bomb fell on houses in Milward Street and Nightingale Vale, Woolwich and the Brethren's Gospel Hall was severely damaged, but none of the 450 members perished.

Later years

He died on 3 October 1964 in Kensington, London, England at the age of 85 years. He was buried in Charlton Cemetery, near the Chindit memorial of his nephew Major-General Orde Charles Wingate
Orde Charles Wingate
Major-General Orde Charles Wingate, DSO and two bars , was a British Army officer and creator of special military units in Palestine in the 1930s and in World War II....

, DSO (1903–1944). His wife Sybil and other members of his family are also buried there.

Dobbie's hypothesis to the fall of Singapore

In 1936, Dobbie, then General Officer Commanding (Malaya) stationed in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, made an inquiry to find out if more forces were required on mainland Malaya, so as to prevent the likelihood of Japanese landings and capturing forward bases to attack Singapore. Percival
Arthur Ernest Percival
Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, CB, DSO & Bar, OBE, MC, OStJ, DL was a British Army officer and World War I veteran...

, then his Chief Staff Officer, was tasked to draw up a tactical appreciation on how the Japanese were most likely to attack. Percival's finalised report in the late 1937, did confirm that north Malaya was a strategic position for the conquest of Singapore and Borneo.
Both Dobbie and Percival made it clear that Singapore could no longer be seen as a self-contained naval base, and that its survival rested on the defence of mainland Malaya. So in May 1938, Dobbie wrote to the Chief Of Staff:

...It is an attack from the northward that I regard as the greatest potential danger to the Fortress (Singapore). Such an attack could be carried out in the northeast monsoon.The jungle is not in most places, impassable for infantry...

Dobbie further added that an attack might be possible between the months of November and March, despite high winds and waves produced by the northeast monsoon. The recent landing of "5000 smuggled coolies" during this period, dissolved any preconceptions that the monsoon offered protection. On the contrary, this monsoon would provide good cloud cover for the invaders.

Quotes

  • Reverend Daniel A. Poling, 1943
    • Never before in any comparable area, have I found so many ranking executives giving so much attention to religion.
  • Prime Minister Churchill
    Winston Churchill
    Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

    • [Dobbie is] a Governor of outstanding character who inspired all ranks and classes, military and civil, with his...determination...a soldier who...in...leadership and religious zeal...recalled memories of General Gordon
      Charles George Gordon
      Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB , known as "Chinese" Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator....

       and...the Ironside
      Ironside (cavalry)
      The Ironsides were troopers in the Parliamentarian cavalry formed by English political leader Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, during the English Civil War. The name came from "Old Ironsides", one of Cromwell's nicknames...

      s and Covenanter
      Covenanter
      The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...

      s.
  • Lord Louis Mountbatten
    Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
    Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

    • [Dobbie] prays
      Prayer
      Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

       aloud after dinner, invoking the aid of God
      God
      God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

       in destroying our enemies. This is highly approved of by the Maltese, who have the same idea about God, but I would prefer an efficient Air force
      Air force
      An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

       here.
  • Mabel Strickland
    Mabel Strickland
    Mabel Edeline Strickland, OBE was a Maltese journalist and politician, the daughter of Sir Gerald Strickland , the former Prime Minister of Malta....

    • At San Anton
      San Antón
      San Antón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Canas Urbano, Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, and Portugués Urbano, San Antón is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are now also part of the urban zone of the city of Ponce. It is...

      , every night about seven, everyone would be summoned for prayer...Dobbie would stand...and...pray...and....ask the Almighty to bless the convoy
      Convoy
      A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

      ...but he never prayed to stop the bomb
      Bomb
      A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...

      ing...that was God's will...God helps those that help themselves...
  • William Dobbie, on British intervention to restore order in the Arab-Jewish riots of 1928
    • This will be the easiest war... We will have to fight only four days a week. The Arabs won't fight on Friday, the Jews on Saturday and Dobbie certainly won't on Sunday.
  • Dobbie was stationed in Palestine and had an office overlooking (Gordon's) Golgotha. In 1929 the Bible Society
    Bible society
    A Bible society is a non-profit organization devoted to translating, publishing, distributing the Bible at affordable costs and advocating its credibility and trustworthiness in contemporary cultural life...

     distributed New Testaments to the British soldiers serving there. Dobbie wrote the following note which was inserted into each copy for his troops:
    • You are stationed at the place where the central event in human history occurred - namely the crucifixion of the Son of God. You may see the place where this happened and you may read the details in this book. As you do this, you cannot help being interested, but your interest will change into something far deeper when you realise the events concern you personally. It was for your sake the Son of God died on the cross here. The realisation of this fact cannot but produce a radical change in one's life - and the study of this book will, under God's guidance, help you to such a realisation. W.G.S. Dobbie (Brigadier) 10 October 1929.
  • I can't help feeling that the security of the Fortress might be better served by having a stronger force in being outside it … I consequently feel that the answers to the possible threat (of Japanese landing and establishing an advanced base on the mainland) is primarily to be found in suitable mobile forces in being in the Malay Peninsula… -- Dobbie's letter as GOC (Malaya), to the War Office on 17 March 1936.

Further reading

  • Dobbie, Lt-Gen Sir William (1944) A Very Present Help. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Dobbie, Sybil (1944) Grace Under Malta. London : Lindsay Drummond.
  • Dobbie, Sybil Dobbie (1979) Faith & Fortitude. The Life & Works of General Sir William Dobbie : ISBN 07066-0810-0
  • Dobbie's report on the military weakness of Singapore, and on the probable plan of Japanese attack, is discussed at some length in War and Remembrance (1978) by Herman Wouk.

External links

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